Our American Cousin (opera) - Performance History

Performance History

The world premiere of the fully staged opera occurred on June 20, 2008 in Northampton, Massachusetts at the Academy of Music Theater, the city's 800-seat 1892 opera house, one of the oldest municipally owned theaters in the nation and not unlike Ford's Theatre. The performance featured the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose. Principal performers included Janna Baty as Laura Keene, Drew Poling as Ned Emerson, Alan Schneider as Harry Hawk, Aaron Engebreth as Jack Matthews, and Tom O'Toole as John Wilkes Booth. Stage direction was by Carole Charnow, general director of Opera Boston.

The opera had been previously performed in a concert version on March 31, 2007 at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, with the same principals as above along with the Amherst College Concert Choir.

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